Dec 30, 2007

This bird is thinking the same thing I am. It involves a question word, a definite article, a muffled expletive, and a question mark. But I have the good fortune of sitting in the digital glare of my computer screen, not floating above the scaly leviathan.

Are there any ichthyologists out there that can ID this for us? The answer to that question is yes, so let me rephrase. Are there any readers out there that can ID it?

Dec 29, 2007

You're looking at the puckered face(s) of the lamprey, or lamprey eel. These jawless parasites aren't actually truly representative of lampreys in general--most lampreys aren't parasitic. In fact, these nasties (I've gone fishing for them before, so I know!) aren't truly representative of fish in general, due to differences in morphology and physiology.

These differences include: no scales, no paired fins, and a single nostril on the top of the head. And since they are cartilaginous (no bone skeleton), they strictly aren't even vertebrates.

These fish (or whatever they are) have no true taxonomic home. That's why, I believe, they have turned to latching themselves onto whatever host they can find, if for no other reason than to find a place to belong. Much like an obnoxious younger sibling.

Dec 28, 2007

I've had a hard time finding an ugly photo of the tarsier. Most of them are cute, what with their petiteness and binocular vision. So I had to go with freaky.

Anyone care to guess whey they're called tarsiers? It's because of their elongated tarsus bones (the bones in your foot that join to your toe bones). I'm not sure why their hand bones became the basis for their name. I would think those eyes would take precedence. I'm just glad that I've been named 'wise man' by those who dish out Latin names.

Dec 27, 2007

I don't think any less of the man wearing gloves while handling these monsters. But it looks as though he has become a bit distracted; he didn't notice that the fore-most snail has pick pocketed a quarter and is about to stuff it up its shell. How many times must I say that mollusks cannot be trusted?

A little FYI: this globe seems to favor invertebrates. While we have only been given about 264 species of monkey, there are an estimated 35,000 species of land snailes alone. That's a lot o' gastropod.

Dec 26, 2007

Would Shelob have been more or less scary colored like this leaf spider? I'm guessing less, but the image of Sam driving Sting into that neon-yellow abdomen is intriguing.The next time you come across a bonafide spider expert (some of them are readers and commenters on this blog), be sure to give them a pat on the back. There are more than 37,000 species of identified spiders, with estimates that the number is twice that. There far fewer species of mammals (less than 5,000 catalogued) than spiders. That makes for a lot of Latin names to know, spinnerettes to identify, and venoms and urticating hairs to endure (not to mention webs and heebie-jeebies).

Dec 25, 2007

You're looking at the frilled lizard, complete with fully deployed frill. These Australian reptiles are arboreal, but when out on the savannah, this is their defense mechanism. If a meanie gets too close, they rear up on their hind legs, unfurl their scaly nimbus, then open their mouth and hiss (my brother does something similar whenever my mom asks him to do the dishes).If the threat doesn't work, and the meanie continues showing an interest in wanting to eat the frilled lizard, the reptile turns tail, knowing the jig is up, and runs for the nearest tree, hissing and frilly the whole way (again, much like my brother, when my mom persists).

Dec 24, 2007

The giant isopod has given me a new-found respect for rolly pollies. I've always gone out of my way to scoop up stray ones and deposit them somewhere warm and dank and decomposey. But now that I live in fear of their bigger, deep-sea-dwelling cousins, I'm extra considerate.

For you seafood enthusiasts, these critters can get to be 3 lbs, and they are often served in the Orient (like every other oddity seems to be). They have delicious white meat,very much like crab. For you horror film enthusiasts, here's your next monster.

Dec 23, 2007

Ugly Overload turns two years old today. That means that UgO can finally ambulate on two feet, can speak in quasi-comprehensible complete sentences, and is almost due to be potty trained. But until that time, I look forward to another year of ugly. I hope you do too. I'm not the activist type, but I consider it my personal duty to bring you animals that are otherwise ignored or shunned.Like butterflies.Laura sent me this shot she took in Florida's Butterfly World. She prides herself in this photo, not so much because of the colorful wings and snazzy thorax, but because of that alien face. This just goes to show that sometimes even pretty things shouldn't be looked at too closely.Thanks, Laura.

Dec 21, 2007

Today is Friday. It is my last day of work before a four day weekend. That makes me happy. How synchronistic was it then, that Danielle sent me a photo of one of the happiest creepy crawlies around.

Say hello to the happy face spider (Theridion grallator). They are native--surprise, surprise--to several of the Hawaiian islands. They call it the nananana makakiʻi. So, if you find yourself suffering from the holiday blues, just think of this happy mother. If she can find happiness, so can you.

Dec 20, 2007

Snapping turtles never look happy, but this one looks grumpier than normal (I would be too, if I were hauled around like this). But check out that tongue--the night crawler looking thing. That's what it wiggles while it lies in wait at the bottom of ponds and streams. Any fish who ventures too close for a nibble get nibbled itself.

Here's a tip to those of you who find yourself in the position of having to move one of these creatures: don't pick them up by their tails--you'll hurt them. Don't grab them by their shells (unless you are experienced at so doing)--they'll hurt you. Instead, use a shovel to scoop them up and deposit them elsewhere.

Dec 19, 2007

If there is one thing our planet is woefully short on, it's giant rats. Thankfully, an expedition into pristine wilderness territory in Indonesia has yielded just that: a new species of Rodent Of Unusual Size.

This specimen weighs in a a cool three pounds. That makes it five times larger than your average city rat. What makes this tale (tail...) even more charming, is that the rodent was fearless of humans. It even wandered into camp a few times (you have so much to learn about us humans, lil' rat).

The man in the photo, a mammal expert named Martua Sinaga, has more spine than I. It would take a lot (a promise to pay off my mortgage, for instance) to cause me to pick up a heretofore unknown species of giant rat with my bare hands.

Dec 18, 2007

What you're looking at is a mouse afflicted with the 'rhino' mutant gene(s). It is a variant on the more comman hairless variety. It's a nasty condition to have. I'm not savvy enough with the scientific terms used in the articles about this mutation, but beyond being hairless, these creatures develop long nails, cysts, glandular problems and a series of skin disorders (obviously).

If there are any biologists our there that can distill the scientific reports into layman's terms, I would be much obliged.

Dec 17, 2007

Monica saw my post on the hairworm and dug this up for us. The video speaks for itself (literally), but only watch it if you're okay with watching worms control the brain of a snail from its pulsating home inside the snail's eye stalks.This is Ugly Overload, people. You knew what kind of site this was when you came here.

Dec 16, 2007

Photos like this remind me that the eight-year-old boy in me never really grew up. He has lots to say about these chimps. But the 'grown' man he has supposedly become will try to exert himself and come up with something worthwhile...

Though chimpanzees are 98.76% identical to humans genetically. The 1.34% difference results in denser bones (they shy away from water because they sink), tougher skin, a strength that is 5-7 times greater than humans (I am 0 and 3 in arm wrestling chimps), and redder, knobbier butts.

I'm no ape expert, but I'm guessing the chimp on the left is the male, and the one on the right is female. I'm also guessing it's mating season. Nothing sets the mood in Chimpland quite like a red rear end.

Dec 15, 2007

Mary, a Floridian zookeeper, has forwarded me a cache of wonderful photos of her wards. This is the first installment.

Some of you more modest types (such as myself) may want to look away. What you're looking at is a pair of komodo dragons about to be intimate. Isn't that tender? Soon, if their rumpus proves to be fruitful, we'll have another batch of gigantic lizards with lethal drool and hunter's instincts.

Thanks for the photos, Mary. I hope the dragons didn't mind your intrusion.

Dec 14, 2007

I am something of an amateur aquarist, meaning that I've accidentally killed enough fish and rehabilitated enough fish and gone through enough equipment failure and water chemistry debacles to be the guy that people come to for advice. So, when one of our resident ichthyologists, Rasmus, sent me this article from Practical Fishkeeping, I jumped on it.

The article is on a pufferfish keeper by the name of Ian Jeffries. His story is much like my own: he got a tank, got hooked, got kids (the chitluns love fishies), and got more hooked. And, like myself, he gravitated towards the uglier of the species available. His fish of choice: freshwater pufferfish (nine different species). The one below is known as the hairy puffer. Me likey and me wanty.

As an interesting aside, Ian has to trim their teeth too keep them from getting too long. I would love to see that kind of grooming in action.

Dec 13, 2007

The harvestman is so-called because they are most commonly seen in late summer and early fall. They are more closely related to mites than spiders, as they spin no webs and are non-venomous. They like romantic walks through the woods at twilight, enjoy dining on juicy invertebrates, and, in warmer climes, love to snuggle up in the mulch beneath rocks for a cozy winter.

Dec 12, 2007

My buddy Alan sent me this link to a Time article. It seems that we've plumbed the depths of the sea a bit deeper and dredged up another 700 new species, including carnivorous sponges (I love it!) and ... much to my horror ... a marine spider. There is so, so much we don't know about our own planet.

Can I not have at least one small corner of the planet to myself where I won't be beset by arachnids? Maybe I'll take up residence inside a volcano to be rid of them. But knowing my luck, some nosey biology student would come along and discover a magma spider and I'd have to find a new home.

The ONLY redeeming quality of the deep sea spider (see the Antarctic male pycnogonid below) is that it seems to be the one to carry the egg sac around. As a father myself, I can relate. I would still squash it with my shoe...scuba fin...if it came too close, but I can admire it from afar.

Thanks for the link, Alan. Our mutual arachnophobia may drive us from the sea (I say as I sigh and wistfully set aside my scuba gear for the last time...).

Dec 11, 2007

The water buffalo has an interesting history. It is an asian beast, but has been closely tied to human civilization since the beginning. They were introduced early on to the Middle East and Africa, and in Medieval times, European Crusaders brought them back home. Some of those herds are still in existence in Italy and Bulgaria. There weren't any sizeable populations in North American until the 1970s, but now there are herds in several US states. India and China depend on them for milk and meat.

The water buffalo is not to be confused with the American bison or the Cape Buffalo. Especially to their faces. They hate that.

UPDATE: The original photo I had posted here turned out NOT to be a water buffalo (contrary to the photo's taker), and was, in fact, a Cape Buffalo. So I've swapped the photo. Thanks fo the correction, Stormy Dragon.

Dec 10, 2007

My best guess is that it is a Malawi Blue Dolphin (Cyrtocara moorii). Unless I am wrong (and I am never wrong), then this is the fish that most reflects my own traits. It's got an oversized head, and it feeds by following along behind substrate digging fish and gobbling up the critters that get tossed up into the water column. That's right, let someone else do the hard work. Big head, mild-tempered, and lazy. That's me.Photo source: Craig Czarneki

Dec 9, 2007

I've posted on some stuff that has made me ashamed to be human. This one makes me ashamed to be a biological entity.

Jade sent me this video (he posted on it here). What you'll watch is what happens when you step on a grasshopper that is infected with hairworms. Here's what you need to know about the hairworm:

A parasitic worm that makes the grasshopper it invades jump into water and commit suicide does so by chemically influencing its brain, a study of the insects’ proteins reveal.

The parasitic Nematomorph hairworm (Spinochordodes tellinii) develops inside land-dwelling grasshoppers and crickets until the time comes for the worm to transform into an aquatic adult. Somehow mature hairworms brainwash their hosts into behaving in way they never usually would – causing them to seek out and plunge into water.

Once in the water the mature hairworms – which are three to four times longer that their hosts when extended – emerge and swim away to find a mate, leaving their host dead or dying in the water.

Now you can enjoy the video, and marvel at how profoundly ugly nature can be.

Thanks for the photo, Jade. I'm praying that these worms don't learn to jump species.

Dec 8, 2007

The woman below had noticed wasps buzzing about her attic space. She and her hubby peeked into the attic and found this: A wasp nest that was home to 5,000 wasps, weighing in at over 4 lbs.

I can't imagine what my reaction might be at seeing that ball o' fun. I would blink at it. Then blink again. And maybe a third time. Then I'd turn away and head down the ladder. At some point while walking to my front door, I would collapse and enter a catatonic state. I am a shining example of courage to my wife and children.

Dec 7, 2007

Stories like this make me mad. Very mad. But thankfully, this particular one has a happy ending. Thai Customs officers were able to rescue more than 100 pangolins and arrested three men attempting to smuggle the endangered animals to China via pickup trucks, where they were destined for the cooking pot.

The Indonesian pangolins (aka the armored anteater) would have brought in almost $30,000 USD:

..All trade in Asian pangolins has been illegal since 2000. Their meat is regarded as a delicacy in China and their scales are believed to cure a wide range of ailments per Chinese traditional medicine...The pangolins, which were all alive despite being hidden under layers of coconuts, would be handed over to the Royal Forest Department to be nursed back to health before being released into an appropriate habitat in Thailand...

Delicacy? Traditional medicine? I cannot properly express my contempt for this kind of trafficking, which is too bad, because I don't think that pangolins can either.

Dec 6, 2007

You don't know how much I wish I had this particular talent of the armadillo. Some guy starts bugging me for pocket change, I fold up and roll past him. My boss walks in, catches me blogging, and I collapse in on myself and roll under the desk. My wife wants me to change the boy's diaper, I roll away and barricade myself in the bathroom. So many possibilities.

Dec 4, 2007

I've seen enough of the world to know that we humans eat a wide, wide variety of foods (some of which shouldn't technically count as food). I'm not surprised that rat is eaten (and--here's a shocker--it's even a delicacy).

But why, oh why, must the Thai rice farmers that have turned to serving bandicoot rat at roadside stations (making quite a profit!) boil them hair, tail, whiskers, unmentionables, and all? Wouldn't a skinned rat roasting on spit (mmm, with BBQ sauce) be so much more palatable?

Dec 3, 2007

I'm not an anthrophobe (unlike some of you). Quite the opposite--I tend to like people, especially the ones that will tolerate me (though, those are admittedly few in number).

But, in the end, I guess there are a lot of people I just don't understand. Such as the person who dresses up a monkey like I might dress one of my daughters, or the person who dresses up a demon cat like my grandma.

Dec 2, 2007

What's worse than a cockroach (no offense, Jade)? An opalescent cockroach, of course. But there's nothing extraordinary going on here, just something ugly (and wonderful, for you bugophiles). When a cockroach molts it becomes white for about 12 hours before its exoskeleton can harden properly.

The last time I molted (sun-sunscreen=burn), I turned a bright red. But after a couple days I settled into a nice, computer-glare pasty white.

Nov 30, 2007

This is one of those days when ugly means ugly. You know, we're taught by our institutions to respect every culture. We're all equal and all that. But that's just not so. This photo is proof. I've got a hard time respecting the culture/people that sponsor something like this.

UPDATE: Here's what Bambi slayer has to say about this:

This is a Louisiana Catahoula Curr, They are taditionally used to hunt Feral hogs and bay them up until the catch dog, that is usually a Pitbull or Pit Mix, catches up with the pack. He will charge head on and catch the boar or pig by the ears or snout. He will hold on until ordered off when the hunters catch up. The catch dog usually wears a collar that can be up to 12" wide to protect him from being cut by the tusks that are razor sharp. This picture was not taken in the woods but at a Hog dog trials, which is a truly barbaric form of entertainment but legal in Louisiana still.

Nov 29, 2007

Igor Siwanowicz sent me some more beauties. You tarantula lovers (you know who you are!) are gonna squeal.

Igor assuaged my arachnophpobia-induced reaction to the fangs by letting me know that they are harmless (except to juicy crickets...). But he did caution me about the awful little hairs this Blondi spider was tossing at him from its rear end throughout the photo shoot. Now, I've heard that models can be irritating, but that's ridiculous...

Thanks a million for the spider shots, Igor. I bow to your supremacy in all things photographic.

Nov 27, 2007

(for those of you who haven't read Stephen King's Dark Tower series, those questions will mean nothing to you)

You are looking at a spiny lobster (they are technically crayfish). But not just any spiny lobster--one that is five times larger than he should be (see the bottom photo).

Meet Poseidon. He was caught in a fisherman's net, but is now destined for retirement in a display aquarium. He is two feet long, and more than nine pounds in weight. That's a lot of garlic butter, my friends.

I'm going to try to hook my brother up with this woman. I'm impressed by anyone who can heft an oversized lobster and stare it down (and smile while doing so).

Nov 26, 2007

The face below comes with two names. The first one is kind of pretty and picturesque: lattice-wing bat. The second one is ugly, and suits are purposes far better: wrinkle-faced bat (Centureo senex).

This endangered bat is a nocturnal denizen of Central America. Where most echo-locating bats are equipped with a dainty (but still repulsive) leaf-shaped nasal appendage with which to collect their sensory data, this fellow has elected to grow fleshy folds and lumps all over his face for the same purposes.

But this bat can display some discretion. During the day, while roosting, he covers his face with a flap of skin that he pulls up from below his chin and hooks to an appendage at the top of his skull. I wish a neighbor of mine had that same ability.

For those of you who fear bats, vampires, and demons, you needn't fear this creature. It dines on fruits.

Sherry has recommended that I sponsor an Ugly Overload Holiday Song Fest, wherein you, the readers, send in your mock-ups of holiday song classics, with the lyrics modified to reflect the focus of this blog: ugly animals, creepy crawlies, heeby-jeebies, etc.

To get us started, Sherry offers us her own creation:

Silver Fish (to the tune of Silver Bells)

City cellarsMoldy cellarsWe have just ventured downTo the basement to get things for ChristmasLots of boxes, stacks of boxesI think this one's the treeAs we move them we're likely to see...

Silver fish, Silver fishIts Christmas time in the cellarCentipedes, race with easeSoon it will be Christmas Day

Strings of webbingSpider webbingWe're disturbing their lairsAs we track down our holiday treasuresIts disgustingThese need dusting'fore we take them upstairsAnd along for the ride there will be

Silver fish, Silver fishIts Christmas time in the cellarCentipedes, race with easeSoon it will be Christmas Day

Nov 25, 2007

Pink Tentacle is reporting on the annual return of the giant Nomura jellyfish to the coastline of Japan's Fukui prefecture.

These beasts can get up to 6 - 7 feet in diameter, and reach a weight of 440 lbs. Scuba divers and purveyors of oddities (like myself) love these creatures, but the fishermen do not. The jellies are so large that they destroy fishing nets and lines.

Nov 24, 2007

I would like to introduce to you the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithicus bieti). It is a very endangered monkey, found in China (this particular specimen abides in a zoo in Beijing). It gets its name from its utter lack of a nasal bone and from the up-turned nostrils.

Nov 23, 2007

Nemo Ramjet came across this Typhlops vermicularis at Olympos, a "campers' and stoners' paradise near Antalya," Turkey.

The second shot is of a Blanus strauchi, which belongs to one of my favorite classifications of reptiles: amphisbaenians. As Nemo points out, this word comes from the Greek. Amphisbaena, means something like "both ways." (meaning, their scales allows them to slide forward and backward.

I love creatures that are so simple, they never have to change. That's my ultimate goal for myself.

Nov 22, 2007

Here's the obligatory Turkey Day turkey photo. To all of those celebrating Thanksgiving by partaking of the traditional menu, look into the face of the beast you're carving.

Here's a small bit of trivia with which to wow your dinner guests: according to the US Census Bureau, there were 256 million turkeys raised in 2003 in the US alone. That makes me wonder: how many hours of American worker productivity were lost due to napping after consuming those birds?

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If you have ugly animal images - be they your own pets, or images you found online - or if you have a request for certain animals you want to see profiled, let us know. Email us at ragingwombat at gmail dot com.